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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2020‒05‒04
twenty-six papers chosen by |
| By: | Stukach, Victor; Starovoytova, Natalya; Dolmatova, Olga; Evdokhina, Olga |
| Abstract: | This article sets the goal: to create a methodological basis for the development of a specific infrastructure of domestic food assistance, to ensure healthy nutrition for those in need. Proposals for measures ensuring food security, the creation of human capital, the development of agricultural production and the rational management of natural resources are presented. The proposals on the use of state support tools within the framework of the “green basket” of the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the motivation of farmers to maintain soil fertility and use the land withdrawn from circulation as a resource for the production of environmentally friendly food are presented. Land resources are needed to organize environmentally friendly production with a low processing intensity - without the use of pesticides with a limited amount of fertilizer. |
| Keywords: | food aid, state support, technologies for soil conservation agriculture |
| JEL: | D1 O2 Q55 Q57 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:99673&r=all |
| By: | Hashida, Yukiko; Withey, John; Lewis, David; Newman, Tara; Kline, Jeffrey |
| Abstract: | Conserving forests to provide ecosystem services and biodiversity will be a key environmental challenge as society strives to adapt to climate change. The ecosystem services and biodiversity that forests provide will be influenced by the behaviors of numerous individual private landowners as they alter their use of forests in response to climate change and any future carbon pricing policies that emerge. We evaluated the impact of forest landowners’ likely adaptation behaviors on potential habitat for 35 terrestrial, forest-dependent vertebrates across three U.S. Pacific states. In particular, we couple a previously estimated empirical-economic model of forest management with spatially explicit species’ range and habitat associations to quantify the effects of adaptation to climate change and carbon pricing on potential habitat for our focal species (amphibians, birds and mammals) drawn from state agency lists of species of conservation concern. We show that both climate change and carbon pricing policies would likely encourage adaptation away from currently prevalent coniferous forest types, such as Douglas-fir, largely through harvest and planting decisions. This would reduce potential habitat for a majority of the focal species we studied across all three vertebrate taxa. The total anticipated habitat loss for amphibians, birds and mammals considered species of state concern would exceed total habitat gained, and the net loss in habitat per decade would accelerate over time. Carbon payments to forest landowners likely would lead to unintended localized habitat losses especially in Douglas-fir dominant forest types, and encourage more hardwoods on private forest lands. Our study highlights potential tradeoffs that could arise from pricing one ecosystem service (e.g., carbon) while leaving others (e.g., wildlife habitat) unpriced. Our study demonstrates the importance of anticipating potential changes in ecosystem services and biodiversity resulting from forest landowners’ climate adaptation behavior and accounting for a broader set of environmental benefits and costs when designing policies to address climate change. |
| Keywords: | climate change; wildlife habitats; forests; ecosystem services; climate change mitigation and adaptation; carbon pricing policy |
| JEL: | Q2 |
| Date: | 2020–04–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:99695&r=all |
| By: | Jibran J. Punthakey (OECD) |
| Abstract: | Foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade are driving forces in agro-food global value chains (GVCs), allowing companies to spread their activities across countries in complex production chains. This study explores the landscape of FDI in the agriculture and food sectors, using a novel database of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) covering the period 1997 2017. The study finds that FDI plays an important role in driving participation in agro-food GVCs, underscoring the close interdependencies between FDI, trade, and the various other channels that multinational enterprises (MNEs) use to engage with GVCs. The results from a survey of agro-food MNEs suggest that FDI decisions are underpinned by a diverse range of strategic motivations that go beyond commercial considerations and market-related factors. In particular, open, transparent and predictable trade and investment policies can have a strong positive influence on agro-food FDI. The study also highlights the importance of a broader set of policy areas, including dynamic agricultural innovation systems, policies to support supply chain linkages, and strong and effective laws governing responsible business conduct. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, FDI, GVCs, M&As, Mergers and Acquisitions, MNEs, Multinational Enterprises |
| JEL: | F21 F23 F60 Q17 Q18 |
| Date: | 2020–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:142-en&r=all |
| By: | Osman Gulseven |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the effect of prices and socio-demographic variables on the farmers decision to purchase agricultural insurance. A survey has been conducted to 200 farmers most of whom are engaged in diversified income-generating activities. The logistic estimation results suggest that education and household income from farming activities positively affect the likelihood of purchasing insurance. The demand for insurance is negatively correlated with the premium paid per insured value, suggesting that insurance is a normal good. Farmers are willing to pay (WTP) increasingly higher premiums for contracts with a higher coverage ratio. According to the valuation model, the WTP declines sharply for coverage ratios under 70%. |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2004.11279&r=all |
| By: | Maria Priscila Ramos (Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires); Estefania Custodio (European Commission – JRC); Sofia Jimenez (Universidad de Zaragoza); Alfredo Mainar Causape (European Commission – JRC); Pierre Boulanger (European Commission – JRC); Emanuele Ferrari (European Commission – JRC) |
| Abstract: | Kenya, such as other African countries, is particularly concerned about the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal #2 (SDG #2: zero hunger), and its associated consequences for the society. Empirical evidence about food security and nutrition in Kenya accounts for deficiencies in food access, food sufficiency and food quality at the household level. These deficiencies are among others the causes of all forms of malnutrition (stunting, wasting and overweight), which can lead to cognitive impairment, limited immunity to diseases, low educational performance, increased risk of chronic disease and even mortality cases of children in this country. To solve the food security and nutrition problems in Kenya is a challenging issue because of the different dimensions to be tackled (economic, environmental, educational, health and sanitation) and also because of the heterogeneity that characterizes households (income and food expenditure, education level of households’ head, regional sanitation coverage, access to potable water / waste water system, etc.). In the recent past, the Government of Kenya supported the construction of a roughly €1.1 billion fertilizer plant in Eldoret in the framework of a fertilizer cost reduction strategy aiming at stabilizing fertilizer prices and making fertilizer more accessible through local manufacturing, blending and bulk procurement. Increasing the domestic production of fertilizers should reduce the price of fertilizer, making them more accessible for farmers. Co-authors of this report, employing the STatic Applied General Equilibrium for DEVelopment (STAGE-DEV) Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, calibrated on a Social Accounting Matrix Kenya 2014, evaluated the impact on food security of the creation of the fertiliser plant together with three additional policy scenarios (market access, extension and subsidies removal). For the purpose of this study, we developed a macro-micro simulation model, based on the previously developed CGE and policy scenarios and on microsimulations using the Kenya Integrated Household Budged Survey 2015/2016. The objective is to produce new set of food security indicators using macro-micro model linkages and it is purely methodological. The policy results, which should be taken with some caution, are discussed in terms of initial economic (per capita income), food security (household dietary diversity and dietary energy consumption) and children’s nutritional (stunting, wasting) status at the household level. Furthermore, national results are disaggregated by metropolitan areas (Nairobi and Mombasa) and the rest of urban and rural zones of the country. Main results suggest that increasing fertilizers’ availability coupled with increasing market access through the improvement of infrastructures and the reduction of transport costs (market access scenario) will increase overall purchasing power. Supporting pro-poor growth, this development will benefit the most those households with lower diet diversity and higher stunting rates. This policy scenario also leads to the largest increases in diet energy consumption, with similar distributive results as for the purchasing power impact. Increasing fertilizers’ availability paired with improving crops productivity in agricultural practices (extension scenario) leads to the largest increase in energy consumption, particularly from fats in the diet, among households with low diet diversity. Average protein and carbohydrate consumption at national level increase the most within the market access scenario. The results confirm the findings of the previous report. Increasing fertilizer availability in Kenya is not enough to improve food security in the country. The contribution of complementary policies, such as increasing the market access for fertilizers and agriculture by improving the rural infrastructure or improving the extension services to train small-holder farmers about fertilizer and land use, that give farmers better access to input and output markets is needed. |
| Keywords: | Nutrition, CGE, Kenya, Agricultural policy |
| JEL: | C68 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc119390&r=all |
| By: | Axel WOLZ (Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies, Department of External Environment for Agriculture and Policy Analysis, IAMO, Halle (Germany)); Shemei ZHANG (Sichuan Agricultural University, School of Management, Yaan, Sichuan (China)); Ya DING (University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu (China)) |
| Abstract: | Agricultural production cooperatives used to be the “stepchild†of the cooperative movement. Although they stem from a similar long tradition of agricultural service cooperatives, researchers such as Oppenheimer (1896) and Schiller (1969) observed early on that they were not attractive for farmers in villages characterised by family agriculture. In general, it was argued that they were not competitive at all with family farms, but also not corporate farms, thus having no role in agricultural development. Historically, agricultural production cooperatives were formed under specific conditions only. Most prominent were collective farms under the socialist regimes, which were often labelled “agricultural production cooperatives†, although these were by no means of a voluntary nature. However, in recent years, agricultural production cooperatives have been observed in villages characterised by family agriculture. In Chongzhou County (Sichuan Province, China) they cover more than half of the total utilized agricultural area. This research analyses the conditions under which farmers voluntarily join such production cooperatives and how they assess their membership in them. We suggest that agricultural production cooperatives have a role to play in agricultural development after all. |
| Keywords: | : agricultural production cooperatives, agricultural service cooperatives, agricultural development, empirical research, China |
| JEL: | Q13 O13 P13 Q15 Q18 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crc:wpaper:2004&r=all |
| By: | Liesebach, Mirko |
| Abstract: | Every four years, the National Poplar Commissions report on the progress of the International Poplar Commission IPC, one of the oldest, firmly established organizations of the FAO (Organization for Food and Agriculture of the United Nations). The reports will be collected and published for the 26th session of the International Poplar Commission in Rome in October 2020. For Germany, the Thünen Institute for Forest Genetics is compiling the report on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. With the reform of the poplar commission, the range of tree species was expanded to include fast-growing tree species in the reporting period. In addition to poplars and willows, Germany has decided to add hybrid larch and black locust for the time being. Based on the numbers from the Federal Forest Inventory (2012), the area with fast growing trees can be estimated as follows: poplars 147,000 ha (approx. 17,000 ha natural regenerated and 130,000 ha planted), willows 75,000 ha (natural regenerated), hybrid larch 3,000 ha (planted), and black locust 42,000 ha (planted). The current cultivation of poplars and willows is largely limited to short rotation coppice plantations (SRC). Several factors are responsible for this: attractive alternative crops, in particular maize cultivation for biogas, combined with the extensive ban on the conversion of grassland as well as a lack of impetus from the Greening Regulation passed at EU level in 2014. The total SRC surface in Germany is currently stagnating at 7,000 hectares. During the reporting period, two poplar clones were approved in the category "tested". 13 further poplar clones were proposed for preliminary approval for the use of biomass production in short rotation due to their significant superiority in the biomass characteristic. Furthermore, the recommendation was made to approve of family parents for the production of forest reproductive material from 2 Populus tremula combinations was made. A total of 13 research projects and ten joint research projects (with together 33 projects), carried out at 22 institutions on genetics and breeding, cultivation, physiology, resistance of poplars and willows as well as wood utilisation were funded by third parties and have been included in the report. Also, 90 publications are listed in the report. |
| Keywords: | poplar,Populus,willow,Salix,hybrid larch,Larix x eurolepis,black locust,Robinia pseudoacacia,cultivated area,short rotation coppice,forest reproductive material,research projects,publication,Pappel,Weide,Hybridlärche,Robinie,Anbaufläche,Kurzumtriebsplantage,forstliches Vermehrungsgut,Forschungsprojekte,Veröffentlichung |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:jhtiwp:141a&r=all |
| By: | Garbarino, Nicola (Bank of England); Guin, Benjamin (Bank of England) |
| Abstract: | Policymakers have put forward proposals to ensure that banks do not underestimate long-term risks from climate change. To examine how lenders account for extreme weather, we compare matched repeat mortgage and property transactions around a severe flood event in England in 2013–14. First, lender valuations do not ‘mark-to-market’ against local price declines. As a result valuations are biased upwards. Second, lenders do not offset this valuation bias by adjusting interest rates or loan amounts. Third, borrowers with low credit risk self-select into high flood risk areas. Overall, these results suggest that lenders do not track closely the impact of extreme weather ex-post, and that public flood insurance programs may subsidise high income households. |
| Keywords: | D12; G21; Q51; Q54 |
| JEL: | D12 G21 Q51 Q54 |
| Date: | 2020–03–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0856&r=all |
| By: | Jennifer SUMNER (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (Canada)); Derya TARHAN (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto (Canada)); John Justin McMURTRY (Business and Society Program at York University (Toronto)) |
| Abstract: | In the face of chronic food insecurity brought on by centuries of colonialism, some Indigenous communities in Canada are turning to the social and solidarity economy to craft their own solutions to hunger. This paper explores these solutions, using a case study of the Northern Manitoba Food, Culture and Community Collaborative (NMFCCC) to illustrate how they are helping to implement the second Sustainable Development Goal – zero hunger. Through local initiatives such as community gardens and greenhouses, co-operatives, community kitchens, school gardens, community-based food programs, food markets and public-sector procurement, they are also helping to implement other Sustainable Development Goals, while providing models that can be replicated in diverse communities. The emphasis on community ownership, control and benefits highlights the importance of a definition of the SSE that is based on community needs. |
| Keywords: | Community gardens and greenhouses; co-operatives; Indigenous food sovereignty; social and solidarity economy; zero hunger |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crc:wpaper:2001&r=all |
| By: | Joseph E. Aldy; Richard J. Zeckhauser |
| Abstract: | For three decades, advocates for climate change policy have simultaneously emphasized the urgency of taking ambitious actions to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and provided false reassurances of the feasibility of doing so. The policy prescription has relied almost exclusively on a single approach: reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other GHGs. Since 1990, global CO2 emissions have increased 60 percent, atmospheric CO2 concentrations have raced past 400 parts per million, and temperatures increased at an accelerating rate. The one-prong strategy has not worked. After reviewing emission mitigation’s poor performance and low-probability of delivering on long-term climate goals, we evaluate a three-pronged strategy for mitigating climate change risks: adding adaptation and amelioration – through solar radiation management (SRM) – to the emission mitigation approach. We identify SRM’s potential, at dramatically lower cost than emission mitigation, to play a key role in offsetting warming. We address the moral hazard reservation held by environmental advocates – that SRM would diminish emission mitigation incentives – and posit that SRM deployment might even serve as an “awful action alert” that galvanizes more ambitious emission mitigation. We conclude by assessing the value of an iterative act-learn-act policy framework that engages all three prongs for limiting climate change damages. |
| JEL: | F53 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26991&r=all |
| By: | Pipitpukdee, Siwabhorn; Attavanich, Witsanu; Bejranonda, Somskaow |
| Abstract: | This study investigated the impact of climate change on yield, harvested area, and production of sugarcane in Thailand using spatial regression together with an instrumental variable approach to address the possible selection bias. The data were comprised of new fine-scale weather outcomes merged together with a provincial-level panel of crops that spanned all provinces in Thailand from 1989–2016. We found that in general climate variables, both mean and variability, statistically determined the yield and harvested area of sugarcane. Increased population density reduced the harvested area for non-agricultural use. Considering simultaneous changes in climate and demand of land for non-agricultural development, we reveal that the future sugarcane yield, harvested area, and production are projected to decrease by 23.95%–33.26%, 1.29%–2.49%, and 24.94%–34.93% during 2046–2055 from the baseline, respectively. Sugarcane production is projected to have the largest drop in the eastern and lower section of the central regions. Given the role of Thailand as a global exporter of sugar and the importance of sugarcane production in Thai agriculture, the projected declines in the production could adversely affect the well-being of one million sugarcane growers and the stability of sugar price in the world market. |
| Keywords: | climate change impacts; sugarcane; yield; harvested area; production; Thai agriculture |
| JEL: | C23 Q15 Q16 Q54 |
| Date: | 2020–02–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:99796&r=all |
| By: | Elert, Niklas (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Lundin, Erik (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | It is well-known that men and women differ in their views regarding the severity of climate change, but do they also differ in their support for climate policy and in undertaking climate action? Previous evidence on this question is inconsistent, but unique survey data from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency enable us to answer it in the affirmative. Swedish women worry more about climate change and perceive it to be a bigger threat than men do. Furthermore, women report a greater support than men for policies to mitigate climate change through political interventions, and also undertake more voluntary actions to achieve this goal. More generally, the results suggest that women and men differ in their willingness to alter behavior and support policy to help mitigate other large scale crises, such as global pandemics. |
| Keywords: | Climate change; Public opinion; Gender; Environmental beliefs |
| JEL: | H23 J16 O44 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2020–04–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1332&r=all |
| By: | Olivier Damette; Stephane Goutte |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the new climate-society literature (Carleton and Hsiang, 2016) by analysing the role of climate in conflicts over the historical period from 1500 to 1800, in the vein of the recent literature initiated by Tol and Wagner (2010) and Burke and Hsiang (2014). As far as we know, this study is the first to apply copulas and time-varying copula analysis to climate-economics literature and to the analysis of climate and conflicts in a historical time series context. Effects of temperatures, precipitation and ENSO/NAO teleconnection on conflicts were investigated. Copula analysis enabled us to identify a positive dependence between temperatures and conflicts, and negative or positive dependences between anomalous precipitation and conflicts, by explicitly focusing on the joint marginal distribution of our variables. Using a time-varying approach, we were also able to precisely identify the periods/regimes during which the link between climate and conflict was genuinely active and then check the robustness of previous literature, such as Zhang et al. (2006, 2007, 2011). |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Conflicts, Social Disturbances, Global Crisis, Copulas. |
| JEL: | C33 O40 Q54 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2020-19&r=all |
| By: | Wouter Zant (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We measure if and to what extent livestock sales during food shortages affect the wealth value of livestock. For this purpose we exploit monthly market prices of meat and staple foods in Malawi, for up to 72 locations (towns, villages and markets), for the period from January 1991 to December 2009. The empirical evidence is consistent with increased livestock sales during food shortages, especially small livestock, and especially in the south. Results are robust for different ways to approximate food shortages and various other threats. During food shortages, real meat prices in local markets tend to decrease up to 40%, thereby reducing the wealth value of livestock at the very moment livestock is sold on the market to purchase staple foods. Similar to staple foods, poor agricultural households systematically tend to sell low and buy high. Savings instruments to bridge food shortage periods that do not lose value when liquidated, are needed. Currently popular index insurance, if properly designed to take account of this, or well-functioning safety nets will generate large welfare gains and enhance economic growth. |
| Keywords: | food security, saving, drought, livestock, subsistence farming, Malawi, Africa |
| JEL: | D19 O16 |
| Date: | 2020–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20200021&r=all |
| By: | Mannava,Aneesh; Perova,Elizaveta; Tran,Phuong Thi Minh |
| Abstract: | The literature lends empirical support for the idea that improvements to transport infrastructure lead to economic development. How and why the benefits of better transport differ between genders is less clear. This paper attempts to answer this question by combining a nonexperimental impact evaluation of a large-scale rural roads project in Vietnam with qualitative data collection. The paper finds that roads improve economic opportunities for agricultural production and trade: all households increase agricultural trade. Yet only households headed by men capitalize on these opportunities, experiencing an increase in agricultural output and income. Production and income do not increase in households headed by women. The result seems to be driven by a lower level of household labor and access to capital in female-headed households, which constrains their ability to make up-front investments to increase production and income. Overall, the results indicate that female-headed households face constraints in taking advantage of newly created economic opportunities. Coordinating transport investments with complementary development programs addressing these constraints can improve the benefits of better transport for such households. |
| Keywords: | Economics and Gender,Gender and Economic Policy,Gender and Poverty,Gender and Economics,International Trade and Trade Rules,Climate Change and Agriculture,Crops and Crop Management Systems,Transport Services,Gender and Development |
| Date: | 2020–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9216&r=all |
| By: | Matthew S. Clancy; Paul Heisey; Yongjie Ji; GianCarlo Moschini |
| Abstract: | This chapter investigates the extent to which agricultural innovations draw on ideas originating outside of agriculture. We identify a large set of US patents for agricultural technologies granted between 1976 and 2018. To measure knowledge spillovers to these patents, we rely on three proxies: patent citations to other patents, patent citations to the scientific literature, and a novel text analysis to identify and track new ideas in the patent text. We find that more than half of knowledge flows originate outside of agriculture. The majority of these knowledge inflows, however, still originate in domains that are close to agriculture. |
| JEL: | O31 O34 Q16 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27011&r=all |
| By: | Maurice Doyon; Alphonse G. Singbo |
| Abstract: | In the wake of the announcement of numerous federal ad hoc programs to stimulate the economy in response to the COVID-19 crisis, it is worth discussing how the suite of business risk management tools that are part of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership is likely to respond to the negative impacts of the pandemic on Canadian agriculture. We argue for a short term bonification of AgriInvest and AgriStability to face the challenges ahead and to minimize the inefficiencies associated with ad hoc programs. More broadly, our arguments to use a risk management tool for a black swan event instead of ad hoc programs is likely to fuel the debate between risk management and income support. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19,Business Risk Management,Agricultural Sector,Canada, |
| Date: | 2020–04–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2020s-20&r=all |
| By: | Ekundayo P. Mesagan (Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria.); Chidi N. Olunkwa (University of Lagos, Nigeria) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effects of energy consumption and capital investment on environmental degradation in selected African countries between 1981 and 2017 using panel cointegration approaches. The Fully Modified and the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares results affirm that energy consumption positively affects carbon emissions in Algeria, Nigeria, Morocco, and in the panel. At the same time, both also confirm that capital investment positively and significantly impacts carbon emissions in the region. Again, results show that capital investment augments energy use to reduce carbon emissions in Africa significantly. This implies that capital investment can provide needed impetus to reduce environmental degradation in the continent. The study, therefore, recommends that African countries should focus on energy conservation policies to reduce the adverse effect of energy use on carbon emissions. |
| Keywords: | Electricity Consumption, Capital investment, Environmental Degradation, Africa |
| JEL: | Q40 Q42 Q43 Q54 Q57 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:20/022&r=all |
| By: | Dubois, Pierre; Albuquerque, Paulo; Allais, Oliver; Bonnet, Céline; Bertail, Patrice; Compris, P.; Lahlou, Saadi; Rigal, Nathalie; Ruffieux, Bernard; Chandon, Pierre |
| Abstract: | To examine whether four pre-selected front-of-pack nutrition labels improve food purchases in real-life grocery shopping settings, we put 1.9 million labels on 1,266 food products in four categories in 60 supermarkets and analyzed the nutritional quality of 1,668,301 purchases using the FSA nutrient profiling score. Effect sizes were 17 times smaller on average than those found in comparable laboratory studies. The most effective nutrition label, Nutri-Score, increased the purchases of foods in the top third of their category nutrition-wise by 14%, but had no impact on the purchases of foods with medium, low, or unlabeled nutrition quality. Therefore, Nutri-Score only improved the nutritional quality of the basket of labeled foods purchased by 2.5% (-0.142 FSA points). Nutri-Score’s performance improved with the variance (but not the mean) of the nutritional quality of the category. In-store surveys suggest that Nutri-Score’s ability to attract attention and help shoppers rank products by nutritional quality may explain its performance. |
| Keywords: | Nutrition; labelling; supermarket; RCT; food; Field experiment; policy |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:124202&r=all |
| By: | Paulo ANANIA (Moshi Co-operative University (MoCU) (Tanzania)); Paschal NADE (Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) (Tanzania)) |
| Abstract: | Promoting industrial sector has been among key development strategies in most of developing countries including Tanzania. Industrialization has been insisted in Tanzania by all regimes since independence. In the quest to promote industrial economy, for decades, co-operatives have been involved directly and indirectly in the process. Government recognizes co-operatives as key development partners in the current move toward a middle income and semi-industrialized status. This calls for sorting out clearly on how co-operatives can engage in the industrialization process. This paper aims to share experience on practical and theoretical strategies on how best co-operatives can engage directly and indirectly in the industrialization process in Tanzania. The authors adapted a qualitative approach by making a critical literature review to understand key issues and to guide discussions made in this paper. Content analysis was used to analyze collected qualitative data from reviewed works. Secondary data were also collected from various studies, including Government’s reports to cement discussions made. Consultations through phone calls were also made where various stakeholders were contacted for purpose of verifying existing data and getting other data in relation to co-operative industrial investments in various places. The discussion focused on various strategies that co-operatives can directly and indirectly engage in the industrialization process. The paper also describes the mechanisms that may be used to finance the industrialization process through co-operative and possible constraints to such investments. The paper concludes that there are direct and indirect options that co-operatives may apply to enter into industrialization process and in financing the process. This is based on the assumption that co-operatives will adhere to aspects of technological improvement, managerial competence, innovation and quality control in their operations. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Semi-industrialized, Co-operatives, Industrialization, Strategies |
| JEL: | O13 O14 P13 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crc:wpaper:2006&r=all |
| By: | Morgane Barbet-Massin (ESE - Ecologie Systématique et Evolution - UP11 - Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 - AgroParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Jean-Michel Salles (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Franck Courchamp (ESE - Ecologie Systématique et Evolution - UP11 - Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 - AgroParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Since its accidental introduction in 2003 in France, the yellow-legged Asian hornet Vespa velutina ni-grithorax is rapidly spreading through France and Europe. Economic assessments regarding the costs of invasive species often reveal important costs from required control measures or damages. Despite the rapid invasion of the Asian yellow-legged hornet in Europe and potential damage to apiculture and pollination services, the costs of its invasion have not been evaluated yet. Here we aimed at studying the costs arising from the Asian yellow-legged hornet invasion by providing the first estimate of the control cost. Today, the invasion of the Asian yellow-legged hornet is mostly controlled by nest destruction. We estimated that nest destruction cost €23 million between 2006 and 2015 in France. The yearly cost is increasing as the species keeps spreading and could reach €11.9 million in France, €9.0 million in Italy and €8.6 million in the United Kingdom if the species fills its current climatically suitable distribution. Although more work will be needed to estimate the cost of the Asian yellow-legged hornet on apiculture and pollination services, they likely exceed the current costs of control with nest destruction. It could thus be worth increasing control efforts by aiming at destroying a higher percentage of nests. |
| Keywords: | impact,biological invasions,IAS,Invasive alien species,yellow-legged hornet |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02548072&r=all |
| By: | Madsen, Jakob Brøchner; Strulik, Holger |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the impact of technological change on inequalityin the presence of a landed elite using a standard unified growth model. We measure inequality by the ratio between land rent and wages and show that, before the onset of the fertility transition, technological progress increased inequality directly through land-biased technological change and indirectly through increasing population growth. Thefertility transition and the child quantity-quality trade-off eventually disabled the Malthusian mechanism, and technological progress triggered education and benefited workers. If the elasticity of substitution between land and labor is sufficiently high, the rent-wage ratio declines such that inequality is hump-shaped in the very long run. We use the publication of new farming book titles as a measure of technological progress in agriculture, and provide evidence for technology-driven inequality in Britain between 1525 and 1895. We confirm these results for a panel of European countries over the period 1265-1850 using agricultural productivity as a measure of technology. Finally, using patents in the period 1800-1980, we find a technology-driven inequality reversal around the onset of the fertility transition. |
| Keywords: | nequality,Malthus,Unified Growth Theory,Agriculture,Human Capital |
| JEL: | O40 O30 N30 N50 J10 I25 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cegedp:392&r=all |
| By: | Olivier DAMETTE; Claude DIEBOLT; Stephane GOUTTE; Umberto TRIACCA |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the findings of climate change impact on a widespread human crisis due to a natural occurrence, focusing on the so-called Little Ice Age period. The study is based on new non-linear econometrics tools. First, we reassessed the existence of a significant cooling period using outliers and structural break tests and a nonlinear Markov Switching with Levy process (MS Levy) methodology. We found evidence of the existence of such a period between 1560-1660 and 1675-1700. In addition, we showed that NAO teleconnection was probably one of the causes of this climate change. We then performed nonlinear econometrics and causality tests to reassess the links between climate shock and macroeconomic indicators. While the causal relationship between temperature and agricultural output (yields, production, price) is strongly robust, the association between climate and GDP identified by the MS Levy model does not reveal a clear causality link. Although the MS Levy approach is not relevant in this case, the causality tests indicate that social disturbance might also have been triggered by climate change, confirming the view of Parker (2013). These findings should inform current public policies, especially with regard to the strong capacity of climate to disrupt social and economic stability. |
| Keywords: | Little Ice Age, climate change, non-linear econometrics, Markov Switching Levy, Causality, Economic cycles, Social crisis. |
| JEL: | C53 E32 F00 Q00 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2020-20&r=all |
| By: | Molintas, Dominique Trual |
| Abstract: | All brouhaha on rice Tariffication renders sharp lessons for us Filipinos to rid ourselves of such pitiful state of social consciousness by ridiculing without right attitude—or aptitude on the subject. Sequentially, the incompetence of Media as a reliable source of critical information is inexcusable. Rice importation is the convenient option for Government to equal the demand for food, rather than developing the capacity of the small farmer or contending weather impossibilities. The dilemma in trade is that this causes price volatility; insofar it is not a reliable source because trade is utterly political. Trade is away capacity development of the smallhold farmers because trade denies self-sufficiency and curtails country food security. |
| Keywords: | Rice Tariffication, NFA, smallhold farmers, food security, self-sufficiency, capacity development, market monopoly, Republic Act 11203 |
| JEL: | F13 F6 F62 Q17 Q18 Q5 |
| Date: | 2019–03–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:99884&r=all |
| By: | Bakas, Dimitrios; Triantafyllou, Athanasios |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we empirically investigate the impact of pandemics on commodity price volatility. In specific, we explore the impact of economic uncertainty related to global pandemics on the volatility of the S&P GSCI commodity index as well as on the sub-indexes of crude oil and gold. The results show that uncertainty related to pandemics have a strong negative impact on the volatility of commodity markets and especially on crude oil market, while the effect on gold market is positive but less significant. Our findings remain robust to a series of robustness checks. |
| Keywords: | Pandemics, Commodity Markets, Economic Uncertainty, Volatility |
| Date: | 2020–04–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esy:uefcwp:27364&r=all |
| By: | Sobah Abbas Petersen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Phoebe Koundouri |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:2014&r=all |